Winner + Creative Sock Construction Round-Up

First off, we'd like to announce the winner for this month's blog giveaway - congratulations to Kathryn M., you have won this month's prize! We will get in touch with you to coordinate the delivery of your prize. Thanks to everyone who entered this month's contest.

Socktober may almost be over, but of course you can knit socks year-round. We've spotted some really interesting ways of constructing socks over on Ravelry, and wanted to share some of these exciting techniques with our blog readers this month. If you have tried any of them, we'd love to hear what you think of the results in the comments!

#1: Sideways Socks
While socks knit sideways have been around for quite some time, we are seeing some interesting new patterns which use this technique! Variegated and self-striping yarns look especially great with this approach. Here are some interesting patterns to try: Skew by Lana Holden, Verizontal by General Hogbuffer, Vanishing Point by Jeny Staiman, or the Alamogordo Socks by Lisa Jacobs (shown below).

#2: Start-in-the-Middle Socks
This intriguing pattern by Carissa Brown begins at the heel and is worked outward for there - another great option for hand-dyed and variegated yarns.

#3: Fish Lips Kiss Heel
This popular method simplifies short row shaping and can used for both toe-up and top-down socks. We've heard many knitters rave about how easy it is to memorize.

#4:  OMG Heel & OMG Spacious Heel
This clever construction from podcaster Megan Williams includes instructions for using this heel in both toe-up and top-down socks. OMG stands for One-needle Mock Gusset for toe-up and One-needle Mini Guesset for top down!

#5: Pyramid Heel
This paid-for pattern from Interweave combines a Pyramid heel construction in toe-up socks with a striking stranded colorwork design & includes a video tutorial with the pattern.

#6: Toe-Up Tab
This free tutorial by Mary Spanos uses a similar approach to the garter tab cast-on which is used for many shawl patterns.

We're also pleased to give knitters one more option when choosing needles for their next sock project: in addition to DPNs and circular needles for magic looping, we now offer small circumference 9" needles in our Dreamz and Nova Platina lines! 

Is there a new sock knitting technique you use that isn't listed here? Let us know in the comments!

Winner + Socktober KAL!

Next month, we'll be kicking off a special knit-along in honor of Socktober! Designer Stefanie Goodwin-Ritter of the Handmade by Stefanie blog recently released a collection of patterns called Conversation Socks which are perfect for knitting on-the-go, and she is offering a special discount on ebook purchases for Knitter's Pride fans now through October 31, 2014 - click here for your coupon!

We were able to interview Stefanie for today's blog post; read on to find out more about the inspiration behind Conversation Socks. You'll also get a sneak peek at the final pattern which will be released on Monday, September 29!

How did Conversation Socks come about? 

I dreamed up this project because I find myself with less and less time to devote to holiday gift knitting, but I know that my family members love and cherish the gifts I make them, especially socks! By choosing sport weight yarn and US #3 needles, each sock knits up quickly and produces a mid-weight fabric that is nice and toasty without being bulky.

Each pattern was created with the express purpose of being simple enough for knitting on-the-go, but interesting enough to keep you engaged. These patterns are perfect for your morning commute, knit night, or a trip out of town! They don't require huge, hard-to-follow charts or incredibly complicated techniques. Instead, they take the basic building blocks that the average knitter has at their disposal to create five designs the whole family will love.

What was your first sock design?

My first sock design was for Lorna's Laces Yarns, and they are called the Side Swipe Socks - they are now available as a free Ravelry download, in fact! As you can see, even then I was interested in knitting simple socks with interesting little details.

What do you love about knitting and designing socks? 

I love making something that is really useful; while I do love making other small projects such as shawls, hats, and mitts, I do find there are only so many I can realistically wear in a season. But knitted socks are always in heavy rotation for me - I live in Chicago, so as you can imagine, wool socks are essential for winter. Being able to whip up several pairs of sock patterns quickly is high on my list of priorities, and I found that there weren't as many unisex designs out there which fit the bill - which is how this project came to be!

Aqua Sock Blockers

What are your favorite tools for sock-knitting?

My go-to needles are Dreamz DPNs. The Sock Set was one of the first Knitter's Pride products I ever tried, and it is still my favorite! In fact, all 5 of the Conversation Socks patterns were knit on my trusty US #3 Dreamz DPNs. I am also a huge fan of the sock blockers - they make the finished project look so nice and polished!

The final design for Conversation Socks will be out next week. Tell us more! 

I decided to try something a little different when releasing these patterns: rather than putting them all out at once, I released the first two and offered a "preorder" for the entire ebook at a lower price than it is currently available for. With each pattern that I added, the price went up a little - and everyone who had already purchased the book received automatic updates, so it was really win-win! The final design will be released on Monday, and I was going to increase the price once more, but have since decided to keep it where it currently is ($14 for 5 patterns).

The patterns which are already released are (above, from L-R): Air Quotes, Chittery Chattery, Persuasive and Retort. On Monday, September 29, I'll be releasing the final design in the ebook - here is a sneak peek, just for Knitter's Pride fans!

To participate in the KAL, knit any of the Conversation Socks patterns between now and October 31, 2014. Be sure to tag your Ravelry project with KPConvoSocks to be eligible in our prize drawing for a Dreamz DPN Sock Set, Stefanie's favorite sock-knitting needles! You can also use #KPConvoSocks when you share photos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

September Blog Winner
Congratulations to Mikaiyawa, the winner for our September prize drawing! We will contact Mikaiyawa via Ravelry PM to arrange for the delivery of your prize, a Deluxe Trendz Interchangeable set!